270,000 peopleuse food boxes from the Oregon Food Bank each month, with children making up 92,000 of that total. “Without community donations, our shelves would be EMPTY in threeweeks,” explains our volunteer organizer Mike. And if you have never been inside the warehouse at the food bank, it is enormous. Sky high racking systems run row after row along the football field long walls, housing thousands of pallets of food. The current building was built in 2001, ironically enough, on an old farm. As our crew entered the first sorting room for instructions, our gaze fell on the abundance of potato crammed farm sacks (donated by Noonan Farms in southern Oregon) that need to be bagged for individual families .

Coordinator Mike and Noonan Farms Potatoes

The food bank requests their volunteers bring a few cans of food so I decided to put a call out for donations at work ahead of time, which resulted in 6 boxes of food collected (Thanks Kaiser Permanente Employees). The ladies pitched in with their own collections too.

Busy Sorting Line

Team volunteers Remy and husband Andrew, Audrey, Katie and Margi joined me in the packing room.

I would like to add that Margi is 9 monthspregnant and we joked about her giving birth on the sorting room floor.

We were given the task of sorting food into “food” and “non food” items, checking for severe dents (lipping) in cans/tops that could result in botulism, and sealing any opened boxes. All compromised items are disposed of in a large box next to the sorting station.

Andrew taping up boxes

Katie and Margi checking for dents

Each food box feeds a family of four between 3-5 days. In Oregon alone, ONE IN FOUR people are living below the poverty level which is higher than our visit last year when it one in six.

Mielle Breaking Down Boxes

To make sure families get the help they need requires a lot of hands on deck. 150 thousand hours are donated by volunteers each year. Donating 2.5 hours of your time doesn’t seem like much, but that effort pays it forward in ways that benefit the entire community.

Audrey Hard at Work

Audrey throwing out the damaged goods

Les Femmes de S&M, along with the other groups, sorted and boxed 9082 pounds of food, creating 7568 meals for those in need. If you would like to get involved, see the link to the Oregon Food Bank below.